A FEW WEEKS AGO, I was talking to a modeler who was getting ready to take the written test portion of the Level 2 high-power rocketry certification. What surprised me was that he didn’t know a lot about the technical or regulatory aspects of the hobby. Basically, he was getting all his knowledge by memorizing the answers in the test “study guide.” To me, this is very scary. But I don’t think that this was the rare exception; as I had a similar experience this past weekend with a different modeler.

My point: I think it is incumbent upon us that have been in the hobby for a long time to do our best to train and point newer modelers to places to get better information. Let’s face it, the “study guide” isn’t a book that teaches about rocketry; it is supposed to test the amount of knowledge the person already has.

For starters, since many questions on the certification test deal with rocket motors and performance, I think a great study guide would be the book: “Model Rocket Propulsion.” It was written at the high school reading level, so it should be perfect for people getting started in rocketry to find out what is actually happening when the motor ignites and the rocket takes off. There are many other good books out there too, so please point people to them.

There are also numerous computer programs available that can be used as excellent teaching aids to make the concept of stability easy to understand. And I think they are very fun to use too, so their entertainment value is what should make it easy to convince people to give them a try.

And I believe there should be more workshop-type events; like the annual NARCON rocketry convention. These are of great value to teach people new concepts in a laid-back atmosphere. I’ve seen a lot of egos get bent at rocket launches, because their new rocket didn’t pass the safety inspection. So the easy-going aspects of non-flying events are particularly useful to get new modelers to examine their own skills and knowledge. The organizers of these events always try to get presenters to give seminars on the latest technical advancements to the hobby; but I hope they also schedule time for “mundane” seminars that teach the basics of rocketry. These will seem “high-tech” to those people that know very little about rocketry concepts!

Finally, there are many excellent resources available on the Internet — such as Infocentral on Rocketry Online. Many web sites also have a strong emphasis on the education aspects of rocketry, and links to most of them can be found here as well. These are very valuable, and should not be overlooked.

In my opinion, the written test should have questions that are not in the study guide. Again, the test is supposed to test their knowledge of basic rocketry principles, not to see how well they can memorize the correct answer. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that this won’t be changed, as many of us manufacturers and retailers have a vested interest in seeing as many people as possible pass the test and fly the big rockets. That is why I think that long time modelers must take it upon themselves to educate the newer modelers. It is for the safety and enjoyment of everyone.

In conclusion, we all need to do a better job training people about rocketry, especially those people that want to jump right into high power rockets without gaining the valuable real-life experience that comes with lots and lots of flights of smaller rockets. There are many good resources available to use, so lets point newer modelers to these places so that we can keep the hobby safe and responsible.